Aftermath
by Quillian
Summary: COMPLETE! Based on slickboy444's fic Extermination!  A look into the thoughts and lives of the survivors one day some time after the attacks.
1. PROLOGUE

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own _X-Men: Evolution_. If I did, it would not only be on the air again, but it would also have new seasons and everything.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** This story takes place after "Extermination," by **slickboy444**. Read that first, or this will make no sense.

SUMMARY: One day, sometime after the genocidal attacks in "Extermination," the surviving X-Men (both old and new) all reflect on what they've been through.

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**_Aftermath_**

_By Quillian_

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_Respects and thanks due to **slickboy444**, for letting me write this._

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**PROLOGUE**

Dawn eventually came.

Light slowly crept over the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and its grounds, making it look peaceful.

Unless you looked more closely, you would have never guessed that it had been utterly bombed months before in a genocidal attack to wipe out all the mutants who lived there.

Not only were the X-Men nearly all wiped out, but the Brotherhood and Acolytes had all suffered the same bombings, and the Morlocks had all been wiped out by poisonous gas.

For three weeks, the mutants known as Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Magneto, Mystique, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Colossus, Havok and X23 had been hunted and in hiding, trying to avoid the Friends of Humanity led by General William Stryker, Senator Edward Kelly and Doctor Bolivar Trask.

The three evil men in charge were dead, the FOH was dissolved yet again, the mutants had all been cleared, and the reconstruction of the Institute was finally complete.

There was more peace than before, but it had come with a terrible price.

The surviving mutants were not the only occupants, but there were also two newcomers who had decided to join the Institute, and help pave the way for a better future: Warren "Angel" Worthington, III, and Betsy "Psylocke" Braddock.

Betsy was the first to wake up in the bed she and Warren shared, and looked off to the side to see him sleeping like a stone.

She lay there next to him for some time (she eventually lost track), and was thinking about things.

At first her mood was cheerful, but then it slowly faded as she thought more and more…

"Betsy?" She jolted a little when she realized Warren was now awake.

"Good morning, Warren."

"Likewise." Noticing her mood, he asked, "What's the matter?"

"I don't know… I guess I've just been thinking. I feel so happy and lucky to be here with you… and yet…"

"You're wondering if you have the right to be happy after all the suffering our hosts have been through."

Betsy thought for a moment and finally said, "Yes."

"I didn't need to be telepathic to figure that out," Warren said, propping his head up. "I was more or less thinking the same thing. But then I figured… There's always people suffering. You can't just help it. But you can do what you can to help them. And here, in our case… we're here to help make the future brighter for the X-Men."

"You are indeed an angel," she smiled, leaning in to kiss him.

"Come on," he said a few moments later after they had kissed. "I think we should get up and go get some breakfast."

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A/N: This is the start. While this was third-person POV of Angel and Psylocke, the following chapters will be first-person POV parts with the X-Men who went through the ordeal.

So who's up first? Let's see… _–Quillian_


	2. CHAPTER 1

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

_Another dawn, another day…_

Magnus Lensherr was already up in time to watch the sun rise over the horizon. There was something about the rising sun's soft yet brilliant first rays that made him feel _alive_ again.

_Of course, maybe that has something to do with the fact you kept holing yourself up during the day wherever you hid, only going out at night to do what you had to…_

The thoughts of the man who called himself Magneto were right, of course. He had done plenty of bad and wrong things in the past. Then again, maybe not as bad as that mutant massacre, but still rather bad.

Somehow, Magneto just simply _knew_ that eventually, there would be a terrible conflict with mutants being exterminated like mere insects. But that didn't mean he had to do what he did and handle things they way he did.

One of the things that truly chilled Magneto down to his old bones was the uncanny parallels between Nazi Germany and the mutant massacres spearheaded by William Stryker. How everyone else got whipped up into a feverish bloodlust against the minority, how brutally the victims were killed… even how the members of the hate-filled organization wore armbands and used eagles.

There was that old saying about how those who failed to learn the lessons of history were doomed to repeat it. This was a lesson which the United States of America had learned, but had forgotten. (Here, Magneto remembered other such events in American history like the Trail of Tears or the interment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II.)

The strange thing was, Magneto began to form his mutant-superiority beliefs with such thoughts in mind, about how to avoid a repeat of the Holocaust.

Okay, so maybe marauding around in his Magneto look didn't help matters…

It wasn't as though Magneto just came out of the concentration camp at the end of the Second World War hating humanity and wishing mutants would replace their evolutionary predecessors. No, even after all he had seen and endured, he was willing to give humanity a second chance.

However, that all changed when he used his mutant powers to help save lives in the village he was in, where the villagers showed their gratitude by killing his wife and trying to kill his twin infant children as well.

Now, he supposed it was perhaps inevitable that things would reach a breaking point… but looking back on it now, he could see that he could have prepared for it better.

Magneto would have never changed if he hadn't been captured by Apocalypse and had been forced to relive his worst memories. He had allowed himself become what he was because he refused to let go of his emotions, thinking they gave him power and made him stronger. (Even his own son caught onto that, although he pointed it out by sarcastically calling him "Darth Vader" once.)

The pre-Apocalypse Magneto would have taken the evidence of Stryker's atrocities and thrown it in the faces of the American government and every other non-mutant around the world, shaming and belittling them and using as justification for attacking them in response.

The post-Apocalypse Magneto, however, used it for the same reasons as Xavier did.

Magneto didn't want revenge anymore; he now knew and understood how vengeance was not what so many people thought it was. He just wanted for himself and his fellow mutants to not be persecuted.

Actually, he always did want that… but before, he would have been willing to resort to doing evil things to ensure it.

Now, another parallel to the Holocaust occurred to him: The horrible event ensured that no one would be willing to do the same thing again. Granted, it was a costly lesson, but debating about whether it was really necessary was moot.

Not only did his friend Charles Xavier show him otherwise, but so had his students, like Scott Summers and Kitty Pryde. Their optimism might have been just what he needed.

However, that wasn't all which Magneto apparently needed. He remembered Magda, and how he promised to take care of their twin children. At first, he shuddered at the thought, wondering, _What would Magda think of what I had done?_

The question then shifted into something else. _What would Magda think, how would she feel, if I couldn't fix what I had done, especially to our own family._

As a father, Magneto didn't have the luxury of simply giving up. He still had much to atone for, to himself, his children, and plenty of others.

Eric Magnus Lensherr still had much to live for, and he was not about to throw any of that away.

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A/N: So, how was that?

Note about the Darth Vader thing: Anyone else see any similarities between Magneto and Darth Vader? Helmet and cape, deep voice, marked/disfigured somehow made the way they became because of events earlier in their lives involving deaths of loved ones (especially spouses), sired twin children, tortured/abused daughter, tried to convert son to own philosophy, son represents sun while daughter represents moon (kind of like Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology)… Let's see, if _X-Men_ first came out in 1963 and _Star Wars_ first came out in 1977, suppose that the former could have somehow inspired the latter?

Next chapter coming up soon… –_Quillian_


	3. CHAPTER 2

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL NOTE:** This chapter is dedicated to **KittAndChips**, author of the AU 4-part "Force Bond" fanfic cycle and its related stories in the _Star Wars_ fandom. As I was reading the second story in the cycle, I read something which just stuck with me: "_Hatred can turn someone into the object of their hate."_ I think that's especially true for some characters here, such as Magneto and Mystique. Anyway, I just had to thank her for it, since it acted as a small influence in the writing of this particular part of the story.

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**CHAPTER 2**

There were plenty of days when Raven Darkholme didn't want to get out of bed. This was certainly one of them.

Nevertheless, she got up and slipped into something comfortable, making her way to the newly redone breakfast hall.

_How ironic_, she thought to herself. She'd blown up this mansion once before, in the hopes that the X-Men would turn to Magneto and his views back then. Now, it got blown up again, and the survivors from all the different groups made up the new X-Men.

Mystique was especially somber. All the teenagers at the Institute, especially the New Mutants, nearly got killed in the explosion; for some reason, they got locked inside the mansion instead of locked out of it, not as Mystique had planned.

As slippery, devious and formidable as she could be, there were several lows which Mystique would never sink down to, even back then, before her ordeal with Apocalypse had changed her, and killing children was among those lows.

But as tragic as all their deaths were, there was one young mutant whose death overshadowed them all, especially for Mystique:

_Rogue._

They had not parted on the best of terms, and Mystique never got the chance to apologize to Rogue for all she had done, thinking she was doing it for the right things. Of course, she also mourned Irene and Agatha, but Rogue's death hurt several, if not countless times more.

If Mystique could die a thousand painful deaths or even be Apocalypse's prisoner again a thousand times over just to save her adopted daughter, she would have done so. That in itself should have said how much she really did care for her.

Mystique knew that to call her an unsatisfactory mother would be a supreme understatement. In fact, she even doubted now if she was really that good as a principal at Bayville High or as a person placed in charge of watching over the Brotherhood.

The shapeshifter felt a small shudder pass through her. Her parents had been… less than understanding when their daughter developed their powers, and was stuck for a while with blue scales as skin. Any decent court would have found them guilty of child abuse and neglect.

Mystique hated them so much for it… but in the end, she turned into what she had despised most: An abusive and/or negligent caretaker.

As she found out the hard way, hatred can turn someone into the object of their hate.

Still… everything that had transpired recently had taught Mystique not to be so negative all the time. Indeed, this new chapter in her life wasn't without happiness.

As she walked into the kitchen, she saw one of the biggest reasons, if not THE biggest reason of all.

Her son, Kurt "Nightcrawler" Wagner.

Her son was the brightest light in her dark life. Compassionate, forgiving, and with a love for life, Mystique knew that someone up there must have really liked her to give her a son like that.

And sitting right next to her son was his romantic interest, Wanda "Scarlet Witch" Maximoff.

And unless Mystique's eyes were deceiving her, Kurt's tail was loosely wrapped around Wanda's leg under the table.

Mystique decided to let it go… this time. Inside, she was laughing, between the flirting presently happening and the idea of her son in love with Magneto's daughter.

But perhaps the even more unforeseen relationship at the Institute was herself and Logan.

Yes, Logan, a.k.a. "Wolverine"…

Almost no one would have believed it possible, but Mystique and Wolverine were romantically interested in one another.

No, edit that: _Raven_ and _Logan_ were romantically interested in one another.

Here, the shapeshifter's thoughts drifted back to the night of the massacres, with what Scott Summers told her: How codenames and powers do not define who they are. Codenames were just disguises, like masks, in a figurative sense.

On the outside, she was Raven Darkholme, a human being (so to speak)… it was as an X-Man (or X-Woman) that she was Mystique.

But either way, she would cherish her daughter's memory and look out for her son.

Her thoughts then drifted away from her more sorrowful concerns to her happier concerns. Raven also took a moment to contemplate that by trying to leave Scott out to die in the desert or something, she only helped solidify the romantic relationship between him and Jean Grey. Who knew or would have thought that her vengeful actions could have had such a positive consequence in that department?

Then again, who knew or would have thought that Logan and herself could have linked up?

Raven saw Logan's clone of a daughter, once known as X23, sitting on another side of the table, talking to Scott's younger brother, Alex. The shapeshifter then thought wryly of how she and X23 might get along. Both of them had issues, not-so-nice pasts, and a skill for martial arts with their strength and speed. She could make one interesting daughter-in-law.

_Wait, _daughter-in-law? she thought to herself. _Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself there, Raven?_

_Perhaps._

Mystique may still have mourned those surrogate family members she lost – and it wouldn't have been right if she didn't – but at the same time, she was definitely not blind towards those whom she gained.

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A/N: I tried to show Mystique as being someone who's gone down that road to hell which is paved with good intentions; I just hope that I've done that well.

Next chapter coming up soon… –_Quillian_


	4. CHAPTER 3

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 3**

Pietro Maximoff normally did several things fast with his super speed, including eating. It never led to digestive problems like with most other people, human or mutant.

However, this particular morning, he was deep in thought, just like every other morning he'd been here at the Institute since he moved in with his father and sister.

As he sipped his orange juice and gazed out the window, he just kept thinking about three other people who had once lived in the same house with him and Wanda.

_Hey guys, how's heaven? Enjoying a nice big breakfast buffet in the sky, Fred? Snacking on insects in some divine garden, Todd? Playing a guitar instead of a harp, Lance?_

Pietro silently thanked his friends for the umpteenth time for being his friends while they were still alive, especially after some of the things Pietro had done and gotten away with.

Looking back on it now, Pietro could only think one thing to himself:

_What the _hell _were you thinking, Quicksilver?_

Pietro had come to the conclusion that if someone videotaped him doing all the crap he'd done and gotten away with, he wouldn't have been able to last even ten minutes without trying to get out of watching it.

Why did Pietro do all that? He was immediately able to answer his own question.

_Simple. Because you thought you could get away with it._

Knowing this, Pietro understood better why Stryker, Trask, and Kelly did what they did, apart from their obvious hatred of mutants: Because they thought they could get away with it.

_Not that knowing and understanding why they did it makes what they did any less of a crime…_

Still, the whole incident helped put Pietro in perspective; he just wished it didn't involve all the death in fighting to make him see otherwise.

That knowledge would always stick with him the same way that bullet would always stay stuck in his back. (There was no way for Jean, Kitty, or even his own sister or father to use their respective powers to remove it without causing terrible permanent damage, although Pietro silently thanked them for at least considering the possibilities.)

Pietro's gaze then moved from the window to his sister, sitting next to Kurt. Both of them kept stealing glances at the other when they thought the other wasn't looking. A few months ago, Pietro would have been immaturely disgusted by the idea of the demonic-looking mutant being with his sister, but now, after all they had been through (Wanda especially, what with getting her memory back and all), he was glad that his sister had such a gentleman as a boyfriend.

He was also glad to know that even after all that had happened, his sister still loved him and cared for him. If her threatening him not to die on her after getting shot multiple times didn't prove it, then Pietro didn't know what did.

Pietro had a new group to be with, he had his father and sister… he was also sure that he had his mother with him, somewhere nearby although not in the physical sense. He was pretty sure that his mother was looking out for him from the great beyond, and that she had helped save his life that night.

_Thanks, Mom._

So much was lost, including friends of Pietro's… but to have gained acceptance among the X-Men and his father, whom he had frequently fought with and had not gotten along with respectively, was certainly nothing to sneeze at, either.

After all that had happened, Pietro managed to have a lot more faith in Xavier's dream, since it was now a lot more possible that before. His new faith in Xavier's dream of a peaceful future between humans and mutants was also reinforced after just sitting down and talking with the professor himself one afternoon. After what was actually minutes but seemed more like hours, Pietro could see for himself why his father was friends with Xavier.

At first, Pietro had also been worried about fitting in with the X-Men – and why wouldn't he be, especially after how he fought with them and antagonized them from time to time? – but this new opportunity for a better future had helped everyone put aside their past grudges and start fresh. There was certainly more strength in unity than in discord.

And to top it all off, Pietro was able to try and start over with his father, who he had almost never gotten along with in the past. Both father and son had much more in common than either realized at first, or would have been willing to admit. It was only after both of them realized what they had lost and nearly lost that both of them realized how much they loved each other as the family members they were.

Yup… after everything that had happened, Pietro "Quicksilver" Maximoff would have to have been the biggest fool in the universe to not realize all he still had and be thankful for all of it.

After finishing up his breakfast, Pietro found some renewed energy within himself, and took off to run some laps through the forest behind the Institute.

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A/N: Well, I just hope I did this one okay.

Next chapter coming up soon… –_Quillian_


	5. CHAPTER 4

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

Wanda Maximoff ate some scrambled eggs and bacon, which tasted almost divine after the rations they had to go on for weeks during the whole ordeal with Stryker and the FOH.

Then again, she could have been eating gruel, for all she cared. She was more glad to be alongside Kurt Wagner, whom she held a mutual affection for.

After she found out about Mangeto had her memory altered so make her think that she had a loving childhood with her father and brother, she was absolutely beyond furious.

If it hadn't been for Kurt and his forgiving nature and wisdom, she would have ended up just like her father: Bitter, angry, and ready to lash out with her powers.

But since the moment when Kurt first reached out to her, Wanda had come to see something: It wasn't so much her _father_ she was angry at, but rather, _what he had done._ Deep down, she really did love her father… it was just the things he had done to her which she hated.

As Kurt would have pointed out with his religious philosophy, "Love the sinner and not the sin." In a manner of speaking, it was the same thing here, with loving her father but not his misdeeds.

As one of the new X-Men, Wanda considered herself lucky to be as part of such a crowd. Apart from her father, there were also people like Jean, who helped save Pietro's life.

Like so many other people, Wanda noticed how in the past, Jean had this sort of "Miss Perfect" thing going on, trying to be perfect in whatever she did. But now, Wanda could see how deep down, Jean was just like everyone else. Just from saving Pietro's life, Wanda trusted Jean a lot more these days.

And speaking of her twin brother, who was not running through the woods to get some exercise… If actions spoke louder than words, then Pietro's taking ten bullets aimed for her truly showed how much he cared for her. There was probably nothing else short of dying that could have proved Pietro's willingness to protect his twin sister.

Speaking of which… three simple yet powerful words from Pietro still reverberated throughout her mind: "_Mom says hi."_

After all Wanda had been through, she was now able to believe that somehow, someway, her mother had somehow helped her family through it all from wherever she was in the great beyond.

Off to one side, Wanda noticed Mystique noticing Kurt's tail wrapped around her leg.

Wanda blushed, thinking to herself, _Who knows what she thinks of me being interested in her son…_

The Scarlet Witch saw Mystique as sort of a mother figure ever since the day she got her out of that insane asylum, and the two of them could sympathize with each other on different levels. It was nice to know that both of them had taken on the same, more positive outlook on life.

The fact that Kurt was Mystique's son notwithstanding, Wanda was still completely new to the world of love, and was still learning as she went along. Still, Wanda was positive that in the end, she would be able to maintain a wonderful relationship with Kurt.

On top of that, there was also Professor Xavier, whose dream, in spite of all that had happened, was now looking brighter than ever. In retrospect, Wanda could now see along with the others how and why Magneto became the feared, villain-like character he was. But at least now things had changed again, but this time for the better.

Just like all the others, Wanda had gone through dark times in her life, but at least now she could look forward to a brighter future.

After breakfast, she and Kurt went for a walk in the woods. Who knew, maybe they'd encounter Pietro just by chance while doing so…

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A/N: Well, I hope I did this one okay.

Someone else is up next, of course… –_Quillian_


	6. CHAPTER 5

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 5**

After breakfast, Piotr Rasputin headed back up to his own room to get back to work on some drawings he was working on.

As an artist, he knew and understood the importance of being able to use art as a means of self-expression and escape. It was actually one of few freedoms he had while serving as an Acolyte for Magneto.

Here, Colossus bristled, still thinking about the former enemy of the X-Men along with all humankind. Part of him still hated the master of magnetism for coercing him into being a lackey, with every fiber of his being. But now, after seeing Magneto's change of heart for himself, the Russian-born mutant was now two minds about the subject. One part of him still hated Magneto for what he had done, while the other part sought a sort of closure to the whole ordeal.

Understanding _why_ Magneto did all those things may not have been the same thing as forgiving him for those things, but at least it helped put Piotr's mind at ease about some things.

Still… there was also the parental factor to take into account. Perhaps with his twin children in trouble, Magneto's lust for vengeance was overridden by parental instinct? Magneto might have been a confused man with tyrannical tendencies… but there was also no doubting that deep down, he was a father all the same.

_Think of someone else, Piotr,_ he told himself. _Dwelling on it will do you no good._

Piotr managed to do that by thinking of someone close to him: His little sister, Illyana. His "little snowflake." After the entire ordeal they went through with Stryker, Kelly, Trask, and the FOH, Magneto combined his wealth and resources with Xavier, as well as split it up with their fellow survivors. Now Colossus' family had enough to be financially well off for years to come. They already had put a small amount of it aside so they could visit Piotr in the United States, not only to be reunited with him after the ordeal, but also to meet his new girlfriend.

Piotr managed to find other ways to think about things other than Magneto. He took his time to get familiar with some of the other people he hadn't met, as well as contemplate on how some of the people he already knew had changed.

His heart definitely went out to Raven, who lost her adopted daughter – what was her name? Rogue? – and from what he could tell, never got the chance to make amends with her.

To some extent, Piotr already knew Magneto's children, Pietro and Wanda. Pietro had been humbled by all the fighting and his own personal brush with death, while Wanda's life seemed to be brightening up a bit.

He had also come to meet Scott Summer's younger brother, Alex, who had no choice but to adjust to this new life at the Institute after losing his old one forever.

Of course, there was also Professor Xavier himself, whose dream in peace between humans and mutants looked stronger than ever. Even though he had not been an X-Man for very long, Piotr already held great respect for the man.

He kept thinking about the other people…

…And his mind eventually trailed back to Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde.

From what Piotr could observe, Kitty had once been one of the more naïve X-Men. However, he could tell that this whole incident had helped toughen her into a strong young woman.

He had already done some drawings of her, and she had already volunteered to pose for some more.

Speaking of his own art… Piotr now turned back to the task of working on one of his more somber projects: Drawing portraits of those mutants who died in those genocidal attacks.

Once Piotr started working on these portraits, he just couldn't stop. He just felt the need to put faces on the victims, so they would go down as people to be remembered, and not some sort of statistics somewhere.

Not only did this whole mutant massacre bear a frightening resemblance to the Holocaust instigated by Hitler, but it also reminded Piotr of the Great Purges during Stalin's rule of the U.S.S.R. In fact, statistically speaking, Stalin killed more people in the long run than Hitler ever did.

Even today, there were all kinds of people claiming that the Holocaust from World War II never happened. With the remnants of the FOH and other mutant hate groups, there would no doubt be others trying to claim that this mutant massacre never happened.

Not only did the evidence speak for itself, but Piotr felt that a deeper view into the lives of those who were killed was necessary.

Sitting down, he got back to work.

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A/N: Well, I hope I did this one okay.

Now that I'm done with the former Acolyte and Brotherhood members, I can move on to some other people now… –_Quillian_


	7. CHAPTER 6

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 6**

_Wow, Logan was right… destroying all these dummies or whatever in the Danger Room really is therapeutic._

It was amazing, Sarah Logan decided, how the "Danger Room" in the mansion's lower levels at the Xavier Institute could serve as such a good stress relief outlet.

_Sarah Logan…_

At first, her only ever "name" was a letter and number designation: X23.

She was a clone of the original Weapon X, the man who now called himself "Logan" or "Wolverine." She wasn't an exact clone of him, since alterations were made to her DNA. She was made by a black arms dealer known as Hydra.

But now… now, she lived with her "father." She also lived with the other mutants who survived those horrible attacks intended to wipe them all out.

When she was living on her own out in the woods, she was much like the other creatures out there in that she lived to survive but didn't contemplate the mysteries of death, but after joining the "civilized" world again and witnessing those horrific massacres, she found herself thinking about it more than once. It also helped her appreciate the preciousness and fragility of life even more.

However, that wasn't the only concept she started thing about… there was also the concept of love.

Again, this was another concept which humans thought about and contemplated more than most other creatures did. For her to feel affection for another was a completely new experience for her. She had seen the other couples at the mansion, namely Scott and Jean, Piotr and Kitty, and Kurt and Wanda.

She felt love for Alex, who felt love for her in return. Apart from mutual admiration, she also found him physically attractive, and got strange feelings around him. Apparently, she had a long way to go in trying to distinguish love from infatuation, and making a relationship with him work. Deep down, both of them cared for each other, and both of them wanted to make it work.

Sarah also knew that her "father" Logan was perceived among the others as the tough guy, who could take just about anything and still keep going. However, she had seen otherwise. After everyone else had left after the memorial service, Logan had wept over Ororo's grave when he thought no one else was looking. With her super-stealthy skills, she witnessed the unseen and more human side to Logan, underneath his tough exterior. It was through seeing Logan's grief that Sarah saw how love was so strong and so powerful that the loss of a loved one could be truly devastating. She had been through a lot in her own short life, but even she wasn't sure if she could deal with something like that.

Silently, Sarah mourned along with him, because she knew that Ororo must have been a good woman, and because she never got a chance to know her.

On the other side of that coin, there was the former enemy to the X-Men, Raven "Mystique" Darkholme. These experiences had also humbled her and showed her gentler side underneath her own tough exterior. Sarah sort of felt drawn to her, and it felt like both of them endured similar experiences in their own separate lives. She also couldn't help but notice how Raven had an influence on Logan, indicating that a relationship between them was possible. When she was still X23, weapon of Hydra, she had studied all the X-Men, Acolytes, etc. through files stored on them, and so she somehow knew that if these unthinkable string of events hadn't happened, the odds of Logan and Raven being together would have been next to nothing.

She wanted to ask either Logan or Raven about love, but she didn't know if it would be a wise idea. For one thing, Logan was still torn between never having gotten the chance to tell Ororo how he felt about her and trying to make this new relationship between himself and Raven work. Add that on to how he was never good with feelings to begin with… well, as much as Sarah loved and respected her father, she decided it was one subject not to bring up around him at the present time. Still, Sarah could definitely since the love between the two adults growing, and she was happy for them.

While Sarah felt sorry for everyone else who lost something and someone, she was also very grateful to have this new opportunity for a new life.

_So, let's see if I beat my own high score this time,_ she thought with a feral grin as she exited the Danger Room.

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope I did this one okay.

Now, to move on to the other mutant who was previously unaffiliated with any other group… –_Quillian_


	8. CHAPTER 7

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 7**

_You know what, I think I'm beginning to like the Danger Room…_

Those were Alex Masters' thoughts as a special surfing simulation began, being controlled by his older brother Scott up in the control room.

Since he was now in upstate New York with its changing seasons and weather conditions, he wouldn't be able to do as much "real" surfing as before, but during the Stryker crisis, he had learned how some pleasures in life just had to be sacrificed.

His thoughts went back to how his parents were so mercilessly killed just because their adopted son was a mutant. His face darkened as he contemplated the hypocrisy in that: These mutant killings were to "protect humanity" or so they claimed, and yet they had no qualms about killing his non-mutant foster parents.

_All this senseless madness, violence and death _does _bear an uncanny resemblance to the Holocaust,_ he thought, echoing Magnus' own observations on the subject. _In this case, they killed my foster parents just like how Nazis arrested and killed people harboring or even associated with so-called "undesirables."_

Alex's current opinion of Magneto couldn't have been more different than it was right after the events at Asteroid M. Alex could truly see a genuine desire deep inside the old mutant to make changes for the better and to atone for past actions and misdeeds. Alex figured, well, why not give him that chance?

It had been hard for Alex, feeling like he had lost parents for a second time in his life… but he found the ability to cope with their deaths just as his new friends were coping with the deaths of the other victims.

In fact, while he was attending the memorial service held for all the victims with everyone else, he also privately mourned his foster parents. After all, they too were victims if this whole senseless massacre.

At least he didn't lose his brother a second time, which was one of the things he was most grateful for. Deep down, he would always remember all of his parents in his heart, both his biological parents and his foster parents,

Alex had a lot of faith in Xavier's dream, especially more now than ever before. Between being reunited with his brother, having really nowhere else to go, and a new opportunity, he would do his best to contribute as an X-Man.

He had come to know the others fairly well, and he was also glad to have met his brother's girlfriend Jean under better circumstances. Alex was glad that his brother was united with such a beautiful and intelligent young woman, who would very well be his future sister-in-law. In fact, Alex was also looking forward to being the best man at his brother's wedding. At first, he felt kind of nervous about being the best man… but then again, he was sure that he would be nowhere as nervous as the groom himself.

Speaking of love and romantic interests… Alex had also come to have feelings for Sarah Logan, a.k.a. "X23." Her past – being a clone of Logan, but with altered DNA, being grown in a lab and raised as a weapon – definitely sounded like something straight out of science fiction, but that didn't mean Alex saw her as something less than a person, or another human (mutant?) being. He saw the tragedy of her life and the pain she felt. Somewhere along the way, he went from merely trying to be there for her to having real feelings for her.

All Alex really had to worry about was how her "father" would view their relationship, simply because his "daughter" was in a relationship with any guy at all. Still, all things considered, Alex was pretty sure that Sarah could do more physical damage to him if she truly felt like it, as opposed to him harming her.

Yup, after all they had been through, things were beginning to look much better.

_Let's see if I can break my own high score this time…_

* * *

A/N: Actually, I was rather looking forward to writing this one.

Now, to move on to those who have been X-Men since the start… –_Quillian_


	9. CHAPTER 8

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 8**

_Face it, Shadowcat: You've obviously changed since then…_

Kitty Pryde sat in her newly refurbished room, constantly thinking about what happened in the past few months.

She shook her head, almost hoping against hope that just shaking her head would help clear out those memories, the same way shaking a glass of water filled with salt or sugar would help dissolve the soluble substance within.

No, those memories would stick with her for the rest of her life.

She had only witnessed the horrors herself, and she was so shaken afterwards. She could only wonder how Magnus, who had actually _lived_ through such horrors, had handled it.

Naturally, Kitty had learned about the Holocaust in Hebrew School, seeing as it was an important yet horrific event in the history of the Jewish people. When she was in one of the older levels, she had actually seen footage of a more sensitive nature, with the bodies of those victims just stacked up behind a building somewhere; she actually had to rush to the bathroom to vomit after seeing those images.

Of course, she and every other reasonable person on the planet thought that the Holocaust couldn't and wouldn't happen again.

Unfortunately, in a way, it had happened again.

She had also recalled all the Nuremburg trials, where former Nazis came up with all sorts of excuses to avoid persecution for their crimes, namely the one infamous excuse that they were "just following orders."

Then again… with these FOH cronies, they had actually been subjected to brainwashing, unlike the Nazis back then. They actually had a valid excuse for what they had done. If that was true, then Kitty was fine with that; especially after all she had gone through, she had issues with people being punished for things which weren't their fault.

The experiences had hardened her into a strong woman… but at times, she still felt traces of that naïve teenage girl inside of her.

Still, Kitty had refused to let the experiences she endured hard and bitter.

No disrespect meant, but that was Magnus' mistake in the first place.

Speaking of which… if anything good had come out of all of this, it was the ability to reach out to Magnus and give him something to live for again.

She vividly remembered that one starry night where they had talked, and she used the stars as a comparison to the human race. All the stars in the galaxy – in the universe itself – looked all the same from far away. They came in different colors, had different ages… but ultimately, they were all the same in the grand scheme of things.

That was when Magnus had his "moment of clarity," and some long-lost part of him had been reborn after all those years.

And speaking of former enemies… there was also Raven to take into consideration. If anything, this tragedy proved that Mystique wasn't some greedy, heartless bitch. Kitty only wished that it didn't involve the taking of the lives of any of her friends… _especially_ Rogue. After all, they _had_ been roommates in the beginning. After all, seeing Raven cry over Rogue's memorial was truly heartbreaking for Kitty to watch.

Still… if anything else that was good had come out of it, it was that people were respecting and listening to Professor Xavier more than ever before. Kitty had never really lost faith in the man she had come to consider her mentor, even during the darkest of times she had been a student under his tutelage.

It was times like these that Kitty was glad she kept some of her upbeat-ness. Sometimes, the enthusiasm of a kid needed to counterbalance the seriousness of an adult, and vice versa. It helped to make sure that the optimism kept back from the pessimism from consuming her and weighing her down.

Getting herself together, she got up and made sure she looked okay. After all, she was going to do some more modeling for Piotr. She had just gotten a new blouse she wanted to try on.

She was also extremely grateful for having Piotr stand by her during those dark days when they were trying to survive Stryker and her cronies. While he was plenty strong without his mutant powers, he really was a gentle giant at heart. Through all those dark experiences, Piotr had been her pillar of strength – both figuratively and literally. At the moment, Piotr was still trying to come to terms with Magneto's change of heart and character, so Kitty was able to help him do so with her own brand of optimism.

There was nothing like a brush with death to make a person appreciate life even more afterwards.

It was with this philosophy in mind that Kitty went off to spend another session with Piotr.

* * *

A/N: Actually, I was rather looking forward to writing this one.

Next chapter is, obviously, about another X-Man… –_Quillian_


	10. CHAPTER 9

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

_Sometimes, philosophies like those about my faith's on forgiveness are easier said and done…_

Kurt "Nightcrawler" Wagner cherished his religious upbringing and all the philosophy that went with him, including the wisdom about forgiveness, but there were times even for him where it was difficult and seemed almost impossible for him to forgive.

He didn't know if he could forgive people like Kelly, Trask and Stryker and everyone else involved in those mutant massacres, but he had a feeling that if he didn't let go, he would end up resentful and waste his life on those negative feelings.

_They may be the ones who did those horrible crimes, but it's your choice whether to not let go of your anger for the rest of your life._

It was a lesson which people like Eric Lensherr and Raven Darkholme were only now learning from – which was a good thing, all things considered.

Kurt didn't feel sympathy for those people, _especially_ after all they had done… instead, he felt something more like pity.

He pitied those three men for wasting their lives trying to rid the world of mutants. If only they hadn't believed their own stereotypes and lies about mutants, they could have done something for good in the world. Kelly could have been an influential educator or senator striving for human-mutant peace, Trask could have used his anthropological or technological skills to help people, and Stryker could have used his military talents to fight against people like terrorists. Instead, they wasted their lives on their own delusions.

As Kurt sadly mused to himself, _Sometimes, really important lessons come with heavy prices to be paid._ In this case, it took their lives to warn people against doing the sort of things they did.

As the German-born mutant sat on the rooftop of the newly rebuilt mansion, gazing out into the distance, he also thought, _Of course, the lives of those three men were only the last to be taken…_

He still had nightmares about seeing the bodies of his friends, as well as the Brotherhood, the Acolytes, the Morlocks… but above all else, there was Rogue.

With some bitterness, Kurt thought back to when he was angry at Rogue and wouldn't talk to her after she destroyed Mystique – or rather, a "statue" of Mystique. How tragically ironic, considering now when he was reunited with his biological mother and his adoptive sister was now definitely dead.

It had taken much consolation on Kurt's part and even a faith-oriented lesson or two in order to help his grieving mother, but he was more than willing to do so. While Raven would always bear emotional scars, they did heal bit by bit over time, and would continue to do so.

Also, it seemed to Kurt that some new happiness had entered Raven's life: Logan.

At first, Kurt – along with everyone else – had been shocked by this sudden relationship that was starting to grow between the shapeshifting and feral mutant, mostly because no one would have ever guessed that the two of them could be considered compatible that way. Still, Kurt wasn't about to complain, because after all his mother had endured, she truly deserved it. There was also the fact that at first, Kurt fretted over the idea of Logan being his mother's romantic interest – or even possibly his future stepfather! But the more Kurt thought about that, the more he realized that if such a thing did happen, it would be nothing to fret over: After all, Logan might be tough, but he certainly wasn't cruel, as well as how Logan definitely did what he could to protect his own. Ultimately, while Kurt might not have foreseen his mother in a relationship with Logan, he wasn't about to protest it, either.

And speaking of new and developing relationships…

A few months back, he would have never guessed that he would have feelings for Wanda.

After his break-up with Amanda, he didn't know if he could ever find someone else he could love and be loved by again. Granted, Amanda didn't hate him for his looks or his being a mutant, but the whole human-mutant relationship thing had taken its toll in a different way, ultimately breaking them up.

At first, all Kurt intended was to try and help Wanda with the concept of forgiveness, so she wouldn't be kept chained by her own anger and bitterness like her father. But, as time went on, it was no longer simply a matter of his spirit and optimism being like medicine for her soul, but he actually began to reciprocate with her. Underneath her tough exterior was a sensitive person just like any other person.

Of course… just starting a relationship with Wanda came with a few small prices to pay.

First of all was a certain "talk" given by his mother, and while Kurt did appreciate her doing her job, it still made fighting the FOH seem almost preferable in comparison. Then there was Wanda's father… he made it quite clear that if anything bad happened to Wanda, he would make Kurt pay, not as a tyrannical mutant but as a father, and Kurt was wise to take that seriously. Finally, there was Wanda's twin brother Pietro. While the worst Kurt got out of that were a few funny looks from the speedster, he still had this feeling that Pietro's protectiveness would be something he'd have to deal with on a certain basis in the future.

Kurt saw his life as one trial after another, with some trials being like those which nearly everyone deals with, while others seemed unique in that they only happened to him or his fellow mutants as well. Part of his philosophy was that one just had to appreciate the good and accept the bad in life, taking them together.

Feeling that he'd spent enough time on the roof, he teleported back inside, thinking, _I wonder if Wanda wants to do anything at the moment…_

* * *

A/N: All in all, I think I did this chapter rather well, because I was kind of looking forward to writing this one…

Next chapter is, obviously, about another X-Man… –_Quillian_


	11. CHAPTER 10

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

_Telepaths, of all mutants, should know about the pros and cons of their powers,_ Jean Grey had decided.

People would just assume at first that in order to read other people's minds, she would have to use her powers to pry into them. Not true at all. In fact, the trick was for Jean to have to shut out the thoughts of all the other people around her. She didn't like having to hear other people's thoughts at all – everyone was entitled to their privacy, and there were some things which you just didn't want to know.

When Jean was about seven years old, her life had changed forever, and not exactly for the better. She had been playing with her childhood friend Annie when she had been accidentally hit and killed by a car. Jean could _feel_ Anne die. Such a terrible and tragic event was bad enough for any child, but when compounded with how her telepathic powers manifested at that moment, and the first thing she felt was her best friend's death… it was truly horrible in a way which was beyond words.

But to actually _feel_ the deaths of all of her friends still inside the Institute when it was bombed… it was at that point when Jean felt that should rather be dead than have to feel that kind of pain.

She had mourned… she had fought… she had even been shot in the leg… but in the end, the reward for surviving this whole ordeal was nothing to shrug aside.

At least now, after a dark period in mutant history, there was a much brighter future to look forward to.

And yet… while winning the struggle was one thing, trying to pick up the pieces would prove to be equally daunting in its own way.

Once everything had settled down, one of the first things Jean did was call her family to let them know she was alright. Her parents may have been tearful and hysterical, but she knew it only showed just how much they loved her and cared for her. They were even so happy that they hardly even objected how Scott Summers proposed to their daughter.

_Well, at least my leg is better, so now I can walk down the aisle,_ Jean thought optimistically.

A few times, she had wondered if it was right to celebrate or even be happy after all the bad things that had happened. But then again, there were always bad things happening out there, and the fact that so many were dead was no reason not to get on with her life.

_Besides…_ _I somehow doubt that they would have wanted me to spend the rest of my life mourning them._

Jean intended to honor their memory by setting out an extra chair for each of them, which would be empty save for a photograph of them. At least they would still attend her wedding in spirit, even if not in person.

Of course, Jean also considered how she made some new friends, so to speak, even if they couldn't replace the ones she lost. For the longest time, she had hated Magneto and Mystique – _especially_ Mystique. However, the master of magnetism and the shapeshifter she despised and fought against were dead – it could be said they had died when Apocalypse had made them his slaves. Now, Eric and Raven had their places at the Xavier Institute, not as former enemies, but also as friends as well. Jean had learned about the events early in their lives which made them so bitter, and while that may not have excused what they had done, it did help her to understand it better.

Also, Jean knew she was far from alone when it came to being in a romantic relationship and trying to make it work. Ever since that awful night when they were all killed, new couples had begun to emerge. Kurt and Wanda, Piotr and Kitty, Alex and X23… heck, even Logan and Raven. She wasn't alone when it came to trying to make a romantic relationship work.

Again, her mind now went back to thinking about Scott, and the future they were about to share together… and for what felt like the first time, she thought about having a family with him.

Jean didn't want children at that moment, but she was pretty sure that she would children in the future. But as she thought about it, she realized something… one day, her children would come to know and learn about this horrific event, what some people were already dubbing "the Mutant Holocaust." How would she, or anyone for that matter, be able to explain it?

_If anything… all of this has taught me to take life one day at a time, and cherish each day for what it's worth._

With such wisdom in mind, she ceased to gaze out the window of her new room and went downstairs for dinner.

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope this one turned out well…

Note about the thing with Annie: While Jean's childhood friend and her death from the comics might not have been canon or whatever in the XME series, it still seemed like something to put in.

Note about the thing with the empty chairs having pictures of deceased friends on them: I got the idea for that from the wedding at the end of the movie _Armageddon_. Somehow, it just seemed fitting here.

Next chapter is, obviously, about another X-Man… –_Quillian_


	12. CHAPTER 11

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

_You would think that I'd lost enough people in my life_, Scott Summers mused as he sat down next to Jean at the dinner table.

He couldn't help but notice _a lot_ of empty seats which he felt should have been occupied.

"Cyclops" had taken his share of teasing from those he had led and instructed. A few times, he had even been accused of sing his position of leadership for the control it gave him (this coming mainly from more rebellious students like Evan or Bobby).

Not really true. He liked being the leader of the X-Men, but because he was able to lead and guide the others that way, not because he liked bossing them around.

Ever since he lost his family that night when their airplane went down, he felt truly horrible about losing them, and especially failing to protect his younger brother, Alex. When Professor Xavier took the orphaned Scott in as his first mutant student and gave him his codename, Scott vowed to himself that he wouldn't let anyone lose to him be lost like that again. Even after he found out that Alex was alive and was reunited with him again, Scott still kept his vow to protect those close to him.

When the mansion was bombed by Stryker and his minions, all those traumatic memories vividly came back to haunt him… and his failure to protect those he was meant to protect.

And yet… all was not lost, however. With help from their former enemy Magneto, he was able to save his brother again, and not lose him a second time.

Speaking of former enemies, one thing which Scott still marveled about from time to time was how he was able to get along with Magnus and Raven. Granted, he didn't forget what they did to him in the past, such as manipulating him at Asteroid M or leaving him out in the desert to die… but he was able to eventually forgive them for those things. He had come to hate those events and deeds, and not those people themselves.

All in all, it seemed to be like a kind of recurring theme or lesson in Scott's life: Always remember and never forget, but at the same time, be able to move on.

It had taken some time, but the other surviving mutants whom he fought alongside also managed to move on, fixing destroyed things that could be fixed… some of those things dating back to before this had ever happened. Scott wasn't the only one reunited with his family; motivated by the opportunity of another chance, both Magnus and Raven had taken it upon themselves to try and make peace with their respective children. Scott of all people knew just how priceless and precious the opportunity to rebuild a family was.

_At least being able to live in a world more tolerant of mutants is not the only thing I have going so far in my life_, Scott thought to himself as he glanced over at Jean.

The two of them had taken their relationship to a more serious and mature level even before this horrible event, and ever since their relationship had reached that point, Scott felt a very strong bond with Jean – not a telepathic one, but one between lovers, between two people who were meant for each other. He knew he could and would spend the rest of his life with Jean. He was even willing to kill for her – and he did, when he used his powers to take down Stryker, Kelly and Trask all in one swoop.

He definitely looked forward to spending the rest of his life with her… yet even still, he thought about some things which he would find very difficult. Scott knew that every man who was to become a father would be nervous over having children, but this wasn't just about normal jitters. One day, he would very well have to tell any children he had about this "Mutant Holocaust." How would he go about doing such a thing?

Then again… that prospect was a long way off, and since the future was always changing, that left him with plenty of time to prepare for such a scenario.

After dinner was over, Scott prepared himself for the task ahead of going over wedding details with Jean. Even though Jean's leg had already healed, he still enjoyed doing things with her as simple as walking somewhere together.

_Besides, after we get that out of the way_, Scott thought, _Jean and I will have the entire night to ourselves…_

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope this one turned out well…

Next chapter is, obviously, about another X-Man… –_Quillian_


	13. CHAPTER 12

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 12**

_I always was one of the more feral mutants around here at the Institute… maybe with how crazy this world can be, I was on to something?_

Logan – otherwise known as "Wolverine" – walked out onto the lawn of the Xaiver Institute as the sun's last rays shone over the horizon.

_Sometimes the "civilized" world forgets to be civil,_ he thought with a growl.

It utterly disturbed Logan how someone like Stryker could just show him and Professor Xavier those pictures without the slightest bit of remorse or disgust over what he had done. It was as equally disturbing as seeing those pictures himself. He may have been tough on the young mutants under his charge, but he certainly wasn't cruel. Kitty was on to something when she said he was like "everyone's uncle" or whatever. By training those kids, he was giving himself some happy memories, sort of making up for those he didn't have and had lost. He did in fact care for them, even though he never showed his emotions there. He was never really good at emotions…

Logan took a deep sigh, hoping to calm himself before he broke down again. He remembered how he broke down at Ororo's monument, crying his heart and spilling his guts out to her. He both shunned and yet liked the action of releasing his emotions after all, shunning it because he hated doing it, and yet liking it since he proved he was not a heartless monster or whatever.

_I had so many chances with Ororo and yet missed them all… she was so kind to me, and yet I never really returned the favor. I can only hope that she's forgiven me from wherever she is._

He could only hope that he wouldn't make the same mistakes with Raven. Here, Logan quirked a grin as he thought of her, as well as the concept of himself having emotions for Mystique, and vice versa. He would have never guessed otherwise that he'd be getting along with a former enemy of the X-Men in any sort of way. Still… he was determined to seize this chance and not let it slip by again. Logan also agreed with Scott's philosophy in this instance, that the Mystique whom they fought against in the past was now dead, and instead there was Raven Darkholme.

Logan would remember Ororo and honor her, but at the same time, he would take advantage of the opportunity to pursue a relationship with Raven.

And speaking of relationships… Logan thought about his daughter, the newly-named Sarah Logan, starting to develop a relationship with Scott Summers' younger brother, Alex. Logan was rather protective of females at the Institute, but he also took some pride in knowing that on the unlikely chance that Alex actually did something to harm his daughter, his daughter would be more than capable of defending herself. Still, just to make sure, he made the obligatory threat to Alex as a father saying that if Sarah didn't finish him off, he would.

Yet another thing which Logan was still adjusting to was being a father. His daughter might have been a clone made with his DNA in a lab, but he still felt that obligation to take her in and raise her, which he also planned on following through with. Besides, after how she went through such similar horrendous experiences as he once did, he just couldn't abandon her. No, he wanted to be there for her.

Logan also recalled just how troublesome teenage girls could be. Combine those teenage girl habits with deadly mutant powers and some of his own personality… that very thought alone was enough to scare him, even a little, and he wasn't scared easily. He was especially dreading having to give his daughter "The Talk." _Maybe I can get Raven to do that if I ask her real nicely,_ he thought hopefully.

Also… now that he thought about it, Logan saw a rather tangled family tree in the works. He was interested in Raven… his "daughter" was interested in Alex, whose brother Scott was interested in Jean… Raven's son was interested in Magneto's daughter…

_Oh yeah, we X-Men are definitely something of a "family" or whatever,_ he thought to himself as he chuckled a little with mirth, which was one of the few occasions since all this happened that he actually felt good for a change.

His mirth then faded into somberness as he remembered the "Mutant Holocaust," as it was now being called. He would have died a happy man, just getting the opportunity to tear Kelly, Stryker _or_ Trask to shreds. In his mind, Scott was kind of lucky, since he got the opportunity to take down all three in one go.

Then again, he and Raven _did_ get the chance to finish of that gun-toting psychotic bitch Magnum, so he figured he didn't come out of it empty-handed.

_Maybe I should cut down on these vicious thoughts… they really don't seem to be doing any good for me, anyway…_

As he snapped out of his thoughts, he realized that he was now out past sunset, and standing in front of Ororo's monument.

_I guess I must have subconsciously walked here…_

He then heard footsteps behind him… footsteps of someone who could have avoided being heard if that person had wished, but didn't bother to. Turning around, he saw it was Sarah.

Both father and daughter seemed to communicate in some unique, unspoken language that only the two of them could understand. After a nod from Sarah, Logan took one last look at Ororo's monument before walking back to the institute with his daughter.

_Ororo, and everyone else… they may be gone, but they won't be forgotten… I'll make sure of that._

* * *

A/N: Well, I hope this one turned out well…

Also, I've had this pattern going with every chapter between the prologue and the epilogue. First, I did Magneto and Mystique, then the remnants of the Brotherhood and Acolytes (Pietro, Wanda, and Piotr), then the mutants who were previously unaffiliated with either group (Alex and X23), and finally the surviving X-Men.

Next chapter is where we finally get to Professor Xavier himself… –_Quillian_


	14. CHAPTER 13

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

* * *

**CHAPTER 13**

_Even with things looking better for mutants in the future, that doesn't mean that the amount of paperwork has lessened._

Professor Charles Xavier was actually done going through his paperwork, and now he was going through mail he had been getting from lots of people he had never even heard of before. They were just common, average people writing to express what they felt over everything that had happened.

Some people were apologizing profusely for ever believing that the lies fabricated by Stryker and the FOH could ever be true… some people doubted it all from the beginning… some people didn't know what to think at all… and some people still felt glad that a bunch of "mutant freaks" were killed.

The few people remaining who were glad over what happened would probably get theirs soon enough, one way or another… in Xavier's mind, this whole tragedy reflected Aesop's fable of Jupiter and the bee, and the moral that went with it: "He who prays hard against his neighbor brings a curse upon himself."

If only Hank were here, Xavier thought. No doubt the wise and intellectual mutant would have found lots of quotes applicable to this situation. Two from Voltaire came to mind, about how prejudice was the logic of fools, as well as how if someone could make you believe absurdities, they could make you commit atrocities.

"Professor X" was never really the vindictive or vengeful type, but this whole debacle came close to bringing out that little "dark side" that resided somewhere within him. He remembered full well how he wanted to strangle Stryker with his bare hands when the madman came in and showed him the ghastly pictures of all the mutants killed in the middle of the night.

If Xavier were just a bit more vindictive, he would have relished just how hard the FOH fell after flying so high during the massacres. In fact, the President himself had taken all the money the FOH had acquired during the debacle and instead given it to the victims of the families. As the President told Xavier afterwards, he felt that if the FOH had been allowed to keep that money which they really didn't deserve, it would have contradicted the idea that crime didn't pay. The government was also footing the bill for the reconstruction, which was good.

_Not that money could ever bring any of them back…_

Xavier knew full well how ever after the horrors of the Holocaust during World War Two, there were people these days who said that the Holocaust never happened, who ranged from anti-Semetic hate mongers to mere skeptics and conspiracy theorists. (Interestingly, practically none of these people resided in Europe, where the Nazi concentration camps still remained as a reminder to the world.) For all Xavier knew, some decades down the road in the future, there could be people claiming that the "Mutant Holocaust" never happened, in spite of the irrefutable evidence which Xavier and Magnus showed to the world, supplied by Stryker himself.

_Now, I've never tampered with anyone's mind unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary… yet it is so tempting to confront these hate mongers and burn those ghastly images into their minds._

Also… while such a thing would have surely sounded racist, Xavier felt horrible over being one of the most powerful telepathic mutants world, if not _the_ most powerful telepathic mutant in the world, and still being taken down by humans like Stryker. Maybe it had to do with being so powerful and yet, at the same time, being so helpless to do anything.

_It must be one of the worst moments of being a mutant… knowing you have so much power which you can do such wondrous things with, and still being so helpless and unable to do anything about it._

Xavier could feel himself just _sinking_ into a well of depression…

_I really should stop thinking about it now… after all, dwelling on the past will do me no good._

Even though Xavier may not have been as religious or devout as some other people he knew, such as Kurt, he had come to develop his own philosophy regarding virtues such as forgiveness and patience.

He could eventually forgive all the various FOH members, who were brainwashed by Stryker and therefore not entirely in charge of their facilities during it all.

He could eventually forgive the President of the United States for allowing such a thing to happen, even if all this was so elaborately planned that he himself was fooled along with everyone else.

As for the press and the media… well, perhaps he wouldn't be forgiving them as soon. They were quite ready to say all those damning things about mutants after Stryker had attacked them. After all, they lived for and produced sensationalism, anything to ensure their sales, practically the same way birds flew and fish swam. It wasn't as though they stopped and thought about it, saying, "Hey, maybe we should make sure this is true first?"

They had indeed gone through dark times… but those who had been murdered would be remembered and honored, and would not have died in vain.

Xavier knew that the trick was to remember the past, but still be able to move on towards the future.

_And my X-Men…_

He would never forget those who had died, and would honor their memories, for they could never be truly replaced… and yet at the same time, he would happily welcome all their former rivals and enemies to the team.

_What a diverse group we now make in terms where we all came from,_ he thought to himself.

Of course, he planned to recruit more members. Warren and Betsy were only among the first of his new recruits since the massacres. He had already sent out letters to Forge, Dorian Leech, Danielle Moonstar and others, inviting them to come. Even after what had happened, the Institute was the safest place for mutants to be at the moment.

As Xavier continued to think to himself, words from that fateful night back in the nation's capital came back to him…

_No one knows how old mankind is… but it is most certainly old enough to know better._

Xavier had an uncanny feeling that he would go down in history remembered for those words… and he wouldn't have minded that one bit.

Looking back down at his desk, he also saw the time on his clock: Nine PM. _Maybe I'll just go through a few more letters before I retire for the night,_ he thought to himself.

"Charles?"

He looked up again to see his old friend standing there in the doorway.

"Magnus… what can I do for you?"

Magnus lifted the chess set he had been carrying under his arm and showed it to his old friend.

"It's been a while since we last played chess… and if I recall correctly, you still owe me a rematch," Magnus added with a tiny smile.

Xavier couldn't begin to describe how wonderful he felt to see Magnus smile like that again, especially after all these years.

Besides, the letters and paperwork would all still be there in the morning.

"Alright, Magnus… let's play."

As Magnus set up the chessboard, Xavier thought to himself: _This chapter in mutant history is behind us… let the next chapter begin._

* * *

A/N: Ah, to be honest, I was looking forward to writing this one. Also, this is the only chapter in the fic (outside the prologue and epilogue, that is), which has dialogue in it… just thought I'd point that out.

Note about Aesop's fable, "Jupiter and the Bee": I have a book of Aesop's fables, which is where I got this from. If anyone's interested, the book I'm referring to is a hardcover book whose ISBN number is 0-448-06003-5.

Note about the thing with the press preferring sensationalism: Now, I'm not going to be so stereotypical to think that all journalists and news companies or whatever are a bunch of people who twist the truth into whatever increases their sales the most… but often, a lot of them do. These days, the news often seems more like the commentaries of whoever is giving it, rather than simply information about what's going on in the world. Even then, they don't always give both sides of the story, typically gravitating towards the negative and whatever will definitely get people's attention. I've seen for myself how lots of news reports, even "special reports," are so slanted in their arguments that you could roof a house with them.

Note about the thing with playing chess: I got that from the X-Men movies… but somehow, it just seemed right to put it in here.

Up next is the epilogue… –_Quillian_


	15. EPILOGUE

**DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

**SPECIAL DISCLAIMER:** See the Prologue.

_Special A/N: Actually, before I close this up, I just remembered something: I want to dedicate this to the great **Dzeytoun**, whose fanfic "Daddy's Favorite" inspired this fic with each chapter being something written in the first person from the point of view of one of the characters. At the same time, I would also like to thank my good friend **Alara Moonrunner** for supplying me with her tidbit of wisdom about how people who are stuck in history not getting anywhere._

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

As night finally took over the end of the day, the dark blue sky glittered with the splendor of the stars.

It was also now midnight.

It had also been midnight when they had all been attacked and so many of them had been killed.

It had taken the longest time for them to stop staying awake until midnight before finally going to sleep, reassured that they weren't going to be attacked again. Only recently did the occupants of the institute go to sleep at what was considered a reasonable time.

It was especially hard when figurative ghosts occupied the place.

On one hand, it had often been said that those who didn't learn from the lessons of history were doomed to repeat them. And yet, at the same time, those who were stuck in said history got nowhere.

They had all learned from recent events which would one day be important history.

They had all learned that the world could be a very difficult place to live in, not to mention sometimes dangerous as well. And yet, at the same time, they had also learned that there was more hope for mutants in the world than they realized. All in all, they had learned to approach life and the world they lived in with a balance of hope and caution.

As they all slept, they all had thoughts in their heads… some dreams, some nightmares… some hopes, some fears…

Both humans and mutants could only learn from their mistakes and try to move on.

What happened was a lesson which would never be forgotten… not so long as they made sure of that.

* * *

A/N: Well, the end is here… so what did you guys think of it?

Yeah, now I'm finally done with this fic! Now I can get back to other things… –_Quillian_


End file.
